Hansen: Fergie Has Me To Thank For Success

In the week that marks Sir Alex Ferguson’s 25th year in charge of Manchester United, Alan Hansen has remarkably claimed that our manager has him to thank for our success.

On the opening day of the 1995/1996 season, the former Liverpool man famously claimed that “you’ll never win anything with kids.” Gary Neville, Lee Sharpe, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville were in the starting line-up during our 3-1 defeat against Aston Villa, with David Beckham coming on off the bench to score our only goal.

Whilst most people would maybe look to Eric Cantona, after returning from suspension, as the inspiration for these youngsters, or the fighting spirit of Roy Keane from the centre of the park, Hansen reckons it is his words which are to thank.

“I suppose those words could have haunted me given the phenomenal success United enjoyed,” said Hansen. “Instead they made me and people still talk about it now. Alex has never said it but I think he might have agreed with me to a certain extent – and some people have told me he used to say “you’ll win nothing with kids” to his players to inspire them. So I suppose you could say I played my part in their success.”